The invention disclosed and claimed herein deals with novel, portable, point of sales systems for vehicles. The systems are comprised of a housing attachable to the exterior of the vehicle which contains components of the system which are interactive with regard to the customer. Another embodiment of the invention is a two housing system in which one housing is attachable on the exterior of the vehicle and the second housing is placed inside the vehicle. Examples of an interactive system are an interactive game, coupon receipt, participation in a survey, communicating with a salesperson, or the like.
This invention deals with novel, portable point of sales systems for vehicles. The most fundamental use for systems of this invention are as a direct customer contact opportunity. The invention""s primary but not exclusive function is to better inform customers who browse or shop for vehicles. This is most important when a dealership for the vehicle is closed. The systems, in addition to providing valuable information about the vehicle to which they are attached, provide for additional interactivity, provide audio and video playback, recording, data storage or transmission, and games, or the like, in which prizes may or may not be awarded.
Thus, the customer would activate the system for the purpose of gaining more in-depth information on the vehicle, or other salient information with regard to special pricing, incentives, or service promotions. Further, the system allows the customer to input audio, video, numeric or symbolic information.
Systems for point of sales activity can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,984,098, which issued Jan. 8, 1991 to Buntsis in which a point of purchase advertising device is disclosed which generates a pre-recorded audio message automatically whenever a person is nearby, and then the device resets itself automatically to prepare for the presence of another person. This system does not appear to be interactive, but only activated by the customer.
Another system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,264,822, which issued Nov. 23, 1993, to Vogelman et. al. in which there is disclosed a system for delivering audio advertising messages to people pushing shopping carts moving through a plurality of spatially defined transmission zones arranged in the aisle of a store. This is accomplished by having shelf transmitters in each aisle of the store and such transmitters respond to the presence of a shopping cart residing in its own spatially defined transmission zone. Upon detection of the person with the shopping cart, an audio message is delivered within that aisle. This system does not seem to be interactive either.
One other disclosure can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,504,675, which issued Apr. 2, 1996, to Cragun et al. There is disclosed therein a sales promotion program similar to the Buntsis approach, in which information is given to a person that is sensed in the immediate area of the system, by the system. There does not seem to be any interactive portion to the system.
An additional U.S. Patent that deals with a point of sales system is U.S. Pat. No. 5,630,071, which issued May 13, 1997 to Sakai et al in which there is disclosed a purchased commodity accommodating and transporting apparatus having a self scanning function such that the purchaser will not exceed a certain amount of predetermined purchase monies. There does not appear to be any interactive mode to this system.
A pump top advertisement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,642,484, which issued on Jun. 24, 1997, to Harrison, et al, in which a point of sale information distribution and presentation system which is centrally controlled, is used to distribute and/or display audio and/or visual information selectively from the top of a gasoline pump. This, and the Sakai, et al reference do not seem to be interactive.
A display device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,657,004, which issued on Aug. 12, 1997 to Whittaker, et al in which an electronic display device provides both an audio message and a visual message. This device does not appear to be interactive.
Finally, there is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,671,331, which issued on Sep. 23, 1997 to Croley, a vending apparatus for printed publications which includes a programmable announcement capability to be triggered when the door of the apparatus is opened. This device does not seem to employ an interactive system.
The systems and devices of the prior art as discussed supra do not seem to have the benefits of the systems described herein.
The invention disclosed and claimed herein deals with novel, portable, point of sales systems for vehicles. In the broadest sense, this invention deals with a point of sale system comprising a first housing containing an activatable system housed in it. There is a means for affixing the first housing to the outside of a vehicle.
There is a second housing containing systems control equipment housed in it and a means of connecting the systems control to the activatable system. There is also a means of powering the systems control and the activatable system, and, a means of triggering the operation of the point of sale system in addition to a data input and/or output system.
In addition, there is provided a method of providing a point of sale system for a vehicle wherein the method comprises (I) utilizing a first housing containing an activatable system housed in it and wherein this housing is mounted on the outside of a vehicle. There is utilized a second housing containing a control system for the activatable system. The second housing is contained within the vehicle.
There is provided a second component of the method, (II), which provides for at least one connecting means between the components of the first housing and the components of the second housing, which, for example, can be electrically hard wired such as through wire or cable, or wireless, such as through electrical connections, such as radio, or infrared links, and the like, any of which have the requirement of stimulating and activating the components of either housing using the means from the other housing.
There is also provided a third component, (III), which is providing at least one means of powering the point of sale system. And, in addition, there is provided a fourth component, (IV), which is providing a starting means to start operation of the components of the first and second housing. There is a fifth component, (V), which is powering the systems, and finally, there is a sixth component, (VI), which is a data input and/or output system.
xe2x80x9cVehiclesxe2x80x9d for purposes of this invention includes any vehicle that can be displayed for sale and includes, but is not limited to, automobiles, trucks, snow machines, all terrain vehicles, water vehicles such as jet skis and boats, and the like.